Explanation
by Starly910
Summary: Peter and Dr. Connors have a talk after almost being mugged. What will Dr. Connors say about Peters secret identity? Will he keep it a secret or tell the world? This is based completely off the old Spiderman movies. This is situated anywhere between the end of Spiderman 1 and the middle of Spiderman 2. Just a One-shot for now, but may change.


**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Spiderman or any of the characters in this story.**

Oh dang it, dang it, dang it! I can't be late again! Dr. Connors will fail me for sure!

I picked up speed as I rushed past the towering skyscrapers of New York City. I had left my apartment over an hour ago, I should have made it there with time to spare, but what did you expect me to do when I swung past the burning house with screaming people inside? I couldn't just keep going, they would probably die, and all because I want to reach class on time? I couldn't live with myself if that happened.

I had stopped at the white two-story house that would have been a beautiful home, had it not been burning in flames and about to crumble to the ground.

"Is there anyone in there?" I asked the middle-aged women that was currently bawling her eyes out on the front lawn.

She glanced up at me, startled by my presence, but quickly shook off her shock, "Yes, yes there is!" She exclaimed" My baby girl is in her room on the second story of the house! Please go get her!" She pleaded.

I dived through the window and ran up the crumbling staircase. Then I rushed towards the muffled whimper coming from my right and kicked the door down. I spotted a small 2-year-old girl with tear-stained cheeks and ash all over her small face. Her black hair was starting to burn from the searing heat in this room and her big brown eyes were filled with fear and panic. I quickly scooped her up in my arms, whispering reassurances, and dashed out the window. Shooting a web to a nearby lamp-post, I slowly lowered us down to the ground and walked her over to her now ecstatic mother.

"Thank you, thank you so much Spiderman! Gracias!" She yelled, tears of joy cascading down her face.

"All in a day's work! I'm just your friendly neighborhood Spiderman!" I shot a web out to the nearest building and this is how I came to be in the position I am now, swinging from building to building hoping to make it to class on time.

I caught sight of the Columbus university campus just as I thought I was running out of time. I burst through the glass doors at the front of the school and made my way through the empty winding hallways. As I reached my designated classroom, I peeked through the small window in the door and let out an exasperated sigh when I saw that class was already in session.

I slowly opened the door and made my way to the only available desk in the room with my head hung low. I could feel the stares of my fellow classmates as Dr. Connors stopped his lecture to look at me.

"So nice of you to join us, Peter." He admonished before continuing his lecture on the properties of atoms. I scribbled down page after page of notes for the next half an hour of class until the clock hit four a clock and we were free to go. As the other students stampeded out the door, I stayed behind as I slowly packed my bag and then stood up to leave. I trudged through the hallway, hoping with all my might that there weren't any crimes going on in the city, so that I could just go and lay down in bed to finally get some sleep. Of course though, with my luck, that would never happen.

"Peter! Peter!" Called Dr. Connors. I stopped walking and turned around to look at him." Can I speak with you for a moment, please?"

Dreading the conversation that I knew was to come, I tried to come up with some excuse as to why I could not talk with him.

"Well, sure... But I kind of have to go..." I mumbled.

"That's okay. Walk with me, Peter." He suggested.

"Alright," I stated, defeated.

We walked off school grounds in silence and started to walk through the city.

"So, Peter, I'm guessing that you already know what I wanted to talk to you about?" He started with a small smile.

At my nod, he continued, "Recently, you have been late to, if not completely missing, my classes. I don't know what to do with you, peter." He sighed." You are one of my brightest pupils and it is such a shame for you to put your superior knowledge to waste."

"Look, Dr. Connors, I'm trying, I really am. It's just that... I have so much going on now, and no matter how much I try, I just can't manage to ever get to class on time," I admonished. "And I'm sorry, but there seems to be nothing I can do about it." I apologized.

"What is it, Peter? What is so important to you that you can't take two hours of your time away from it and dedicate them to coming to my class?" He questioned, puzzled.

"Saving lives." I mumbled under my breath.

"What was that?" He queried.

"Nothing... I'm sorry, Dr. Connors, but I just can't tell y..." I trailed off as I heard something moving in the alley to the right of us. I stopped in my tracks and glared at the darkness of the alley.

"What is it, Peter?" He questioned. Surprised by my sudden hostility to seemingly nothing.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here, Jacob." Grumbled a deep voice from the darkness. I clenched my teeth as a figure stepped out of the shadows and stepped towards us. I saw the glistening edge of a knife in his hand and heard the reloading of a gun in the background. I could take them out with my eyes closed if I really wanted to, but not while Dr. Connors stood there trembling with fear, casting me fervent glances wondering why I wasn't cowering in fear like he was. Instead, I stood tall as I scanned my surroundings and realized that there were 5 thugs in all, circling us, that gave us no chance of getting away from them without showing Dr. Connors the real me.

"Okay, gentlemen, how about we have a nice little talk, shall we?" I ignored the guffaws from his fellow goons and made a plan to end this before it could even start.

Spinning in a circle, I shot a web at each of their faces as they all let out muffled screams and dropped their weapons to the concrete ground. I did a back flip through the air and knocked out two of the thugs as I landed with a kick to each head. I heard Dr. Connors gasp.

"ooh, that's got to hurt," I stated as I gave a hard left hook to another's jaw, knocking him out in the process. The last two finally managed to get the web off of their faces and started to sprint away yelling about 'the spider'.

I shot a line at each of their legs and pulled them toward me.

"You would choose Spiderman to steal from, Joe! Of all the millions of people living in New York! You just had to pick this guy, Spiderman, of all people, didn't you?"  
One man hollered angrily.

"That's my name, don't wear it out!" I laughed as I bundled all 5 of them together and hung them from the side of a building.

"Aw come on man! Give us a break!" Shouted one guy from the group of hanging men. I rolled my eyes as I dialed 911 to give the police an anonymous tip of the 5 thugs ready to get arrested in this alley. I then took three quick strides away from them and to my fallen physics teacher.

"Are you okay, Dr. Connors?" I asked, concerned for his well-being. He laid across the damp ground of the alley, where he had gotten pushed to when one man started flailing his arms around to get the webbing off of him. I watched him try to collect himself and then open his mouth to speak.

"Y-y-yes, peter... How… did you do that?" He was shocked; I didn't blame him, after almost being mugged in a dark alley and then finding out that his supposedly lazy student was the city's superhero.

"You know what, Dr. Connors? How about we go and get a cup of coffee from that little diner down the street? I'll explain everything there." I suggested.

He hesitantly nodded his head. "But, I thought you had to go…" he muttered.

I smiled sheepishly as I responded, "Not really, I just didn't want to talk about school." I paused, "But you need answers for everything that just happened, and I plan on giving you them." I finished _I also need to make sure that you keep your mouth shut_ I mentally added.

We trudged over to the 24/7 diner down the street in silence as I allowed him to gather his thoughts and figure out what he wanted to ask me. The bell rung at the door, signaling our entrance as we searched for an available table in the small diner. I made my way to a small, secluded table at the back corner of the restaurant with Dr. Connors trailing closely behind. A waitress arrived at our table holding a notepad and pencil and asked us what we would like.

"Just a coffee for me please." I stated.

"I'd like just a coffee too, please." Dr. Connors said in a shaky voice and then cleared his throat.

"Alright, coming right up." She recited the everyday line that she constantly had to use. I glanced back at my physics instructor and waited for him to begin.

He took a deep breath "So, this is why, huh?" he elaborated after noticing my confused expression, "Why you're always late? Why you can never do your homework or turn it in on time? It's because you're off saving lives all day." I smirked at the truth in that statement and nodded my head vigorously; trying to convey to him that I tried my hardest, but I had a lot going on in my daily life. Doing homework didn't really fit into my schedule.

"So, how did this all start?" he questioned, accepting the fact that I had a double life where I was a crime stopping spider in my free time. The waitress returned with our drinks and with a small "Enjoy," she walked back to her post, which was greeting new customers at the door.

"I was seventeen and in my senior year of high school at midtown high." He gasped at the young age I had when I started as I took a sip of the warm liquid. "We went on a field trip to the science department at Columbia University and there were fifteen genetically altered super spiders, but one of them got out. As I was taking a picture of Mary Jane for yearbook, it dropped onto the back of my hand and bit me. I slapped it off, but it was too late, its venom was already spreading throughout my body. When I got home I was feeling a little woozy, so I laid down in my room to sleep. The next morning, suddenly I didn't need my glasses anymore and I had more muscles, I was a lot stronger." He looked shocked, but I continued with my story. "I kept on breaking things because of my new-found strength" I said a bit sheepishly. "That same day, at school, my hands started to stick to everything and all of my senses were heightened. I could hear the flapping of a small mosquitoes wing from twenty feet away as if it was right next to my ear." He looked quite interested now. "My reflexes were also faster and I was able to dodge punches from the school bully, flash, as if he was going in slow motion and then I was able to give him a couple of my own in return." I paused to catch my breath as he gave me a disapproving look for having been in a fight.

"This is all quite intriguing, Peter. Please, continue." He was now into teacher mode and needed to know everything that there was to know about the subject. I took another sip of my coffee and relished in the feel of the warm liquid seeping down my throat.

"After school that day, I started figuring out all of my new abilities. I realized that I could climb walls, jump very far, shoot webs, swing from them, and, as I said before, I had faster reflexes that helped me make sure that I didn't get hurt." He continued to stare at me intently. "I needed money, so I decided to try my hand at wrestling for a chance to win $3000. I won; but the owner of the franchise wouldn't give me more than $100 and said that it wasn't his problem if I needed money. Then, a man came and robbed him… but I let him pass right by me to get revenge on the man, telling him that it wasn't my problem, as he had told me just a few minutes prior to the encounter. Later, I found my uncle dead from a gunshot wound. That same robber had come and taken my uncles car by force as he patiently waited for me to come." I knew that I was on the verge of tears now, but I held them in and continued with my story. "I went to find the man so that he could be arrested and he ended up dying because he fell from a two-story building when he was trying to back away from me." Dr. Connors gasped at my revelation, but nodded encouragingly for me to continue. "The way I felt… when I knew that my uncle, Ben, was gone… it was indescribable. The closest definition would be pure agony and despair. I didn't want this harm to befall any other innocent people, so I became Spiderman." I finally finished my long tail with the memories of those few dreadful days fresh in my mind.

"Wow, Peter, I never knew. I'm so sorry, my boy." He finally said apologetically. "So, with that one spider bite, you gained all the abilities of a spider?" he queried. I nodded, acknowledging his statement.

He then burst out, "What where you doing today? Yesterday? How about the day before that?" he asked this all in a rush without giving me the chance to answer.

I laughed at his eagerness and said, "Burning house with a kid inside today, bank robbery and then a speeding car that was going to hit a grandma and her two grandchildren yesterday, and a major car chase the day before that." I ticked them each off on my fingers as I went.

His jaw almost hit the ground as he gaped at me. " I've heard the classic 'traffic' excuse" he explained, while putting air quotes around traffic, "but this… this is something else." His face was a mix of astonishment and burning curiosity to learn more.

"So, what else do you want to know?" I blurted out after taking another soothing sip of the coffee.

"Everything," he breathed out. "But, just to narrow it down a bit, why do you keep this a secret?" he seemed puzzled that I would ever keep something of this magnitude a secret.

"Spiderman has a lot of enemies. If any of them figured out who I was, they would use the ones I love to get to me. The green goblin figured it out and took Mary Jane away in order to lure me to him. I can't bring her into this again. I've already taken some safety precautions by denying that I have feelings for her when she proposed her love to me, but that might not be enough. I _need _to keep my true identity a secret so that no one gets hurt with only me to blame. "He seemed to understand my motives, and agree with them.

"You're right, Peter. Your secret is safe with me and I won't tell anyone… no matter how much money they're throwing in my face." He grinned at me and I couldn't help but beaming right back at him. He looked like an exited toddler who just found a brand new toy and wanted to know how it worked.

"I have always wondered how you got all those pictures of Spiderman for _The Bugle_, and I guess that now I know. You always did seem a little too tired and beaten up for your average teenage boy; There was always some scratch or bruise on your body, maybe even a slight limp that I noticed whenever you got up to turn in a paper. I never gave much attention to them all, but there's a lot of little pieces of the puzzle that can be put together to figure it all out. "We continued to talk for another half an hour about nothing of consequence while we finished drinking our coffees. Dr. Connors looked deep in thought as if he was considering something important.

"So, Peter. What do you think about me giving you extra tutoring sessions? That way you can continue being the hero of the city but still get an education." He finally proposed.

"Would you really do that for me, Dr. Connors?" I inquired, shocked.

"Well of course I would! With all that you have done to help this city, it's the least I could do to repay you. Just give me a call when you have time and I can meet with you. You name the time and place and I'll bring the instructional expertise!" He proudly declared. My face broke out into a wide grin and I nodded my head in agreement.

We finally left the small diner and waved goodbye as we went our separate ways. I heard the familiar sound of a police siren and broke out into a run towards the nearest alley. I changed into my red and blue costume, careful to not be seen, and swung out towards the scene of the crime. I glanced down and spotted Dr. Curt Connors waving at me from just outside of the diner and I knew that I made a good choice by telling him all of this. He was a trustworthy man and I knew that I could count on him to keep my secret. I chuckled at the look of astonishment on all the pedestrians faces as I waved back at him before disappearing behind another building.

**Thanks for reading my story! I hope you enjoyed it! Please Review!**


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